Dead Sober
by MTK4FUN
Summary: A game around the campfire takes a frightening turn when Peeta chooses "dare" instead of facing the truth. A modern AU one-shot written for Write-Me-A-Story HG Challenge.


_Author's Note: This one-shot was written for Write-Me-A-Story HG Challenge, Round 2_

**Prompt 8 - "There are much worse games to play."**

Every couple has a story. Ours started with a dumb game. Something to play while a bunch of them sat around getting drunk.

There's this lake on the outskirts of District 12. It was the end of summer and everyone was ready to blow off steam. Most of them were older and would be leaving within days to head out for colleges across Panem. I was starting my senior year of high school.

Gale had set up this get-together. He brought the dogs and the buns. "Bring your own drinks," he'd said.

Even though Gale was my hunting buddy, I had no intention of attending this soirée because I knew exactly what would happen. The couples would pair up, leaving the rest of us loners to stare awkwardly at each other.

But then Rory invited my thirteen-year-old sister and my simple-minded mother gave her approval with a "sure, that sounds like fun."

I had no choice after that. I had to go to keep an eye on Prim. If Rory were anything like Gale, well, I didn't want my sister to end up pregnant.

Everyone sat around a campfire drinking assorted beverages, mostly alcoholic. I drank cola, which I had pretended to doctor with vodka that Gale brought. I brought the liter of cola along because I didn't want Prim getting buzzed. But I suspected Rory put something in her cola because she was laughing hysterically at nothing and practically sitting on his lap.

Across the fire from me were Gale and Madge who couldn't keep their hands and mouths off each other. I tried to look anywhere but at them.

My eyes flitted around the circle. It was the usual crowd. Rye and his fat girlfriend Delly, Thom, Finnick, and Johanna.

Rye had brought his brother Peeta along. Peeta seemed aloof from the others and strangely fascinated with his drink, something in a bottle that he'd covered with a brown paper bag. I wondered why in hell he was even here. Peeta was good-looking, and popular, and one of the few genuinely nice guys at school. He didn't hang with this crowd. But then I didn't either. I only came because of Prim.

I figured they'd sit there all night just getting drunker until someone, I think it was Delly, came up with the brilliant idea of playing a game I hadn't played since middle school. Truth or Dare.

I stood up quickly. There are much worse games to play, but there's no way on earth I was going to be part of this idiotic distraction that always ended up being about sex. I may have acted tough on the outside, but I was pure and it wasn't anything I wanted to brag about to this crowd of sex maniacs.

"You going first Catnip," Gale slurred.

I hated it when he called me that. I threw him my fiercest scowl.

"I'm going to the porta potty." I rushed off to the lone toilet near where the vehicles were parked.

When I returned, the game was in full swing. Delly was explaining about Rye's expert tongue and everyone laughed when he stuck it out and waved it around. Finnick was next and to my surprise he actually took the dare rather than talk about his greatest sexual experience.

This amazed me because Finnick was the poster child for deviants. Johanna was so stunned that she couldn't think of a dare fast enough and lamely asked him to swallow a dead fly that she squashed with an empty beer can.

Finnick swallowed it quickly, and then licked his lips and smiled.

The next one up was Peeta. He put his paper bag down and looked at Gale who posed the question.

"Truth or dare," Gale said. "Have you ever loved someone who has not loved you back?"

Peeta's face turned beet red. He wiped the sweat from his forehead before answering. "I'll take the dare."

"That's because she's here," Rye shouted. He laughed wildly.

Peeta glared at Rye and it was obvious from his reaction that he was in love with one of the girls around the fire. But who? I glanced around the circle trying to figure it out. I doubted it was Delly, after all she was his brother's girlfriend. But she was also quite buxom and that definitely drew a lot of guys' attention. Johanna was a couple of years older than Peeta, although I supposed he could have had a crush on her. I hoped it wasn't Prim. Everyone loved her, but she was much too young for a seventeen-year-old.

But then my eyes fell upon Madge and I realized it had to be her. Because of course Peeta would take the dare then. He wouldn't risk telling Gale he had an unrequited love for his girlfriend. Not unless he wanted to get his ass kicked.

I wondered if Gale already knew. Maybe that's why he posed the question. To put Peeta in his place. It wouldn't surprise me. Gale had a mean streak when he drank.

But Gale looked confused, like he couldn't think of a good dare.

"I have the perfect dare for my brother," Rye said. "Have him jump off the end of the dock and swim to shore."

Rye turned to stare at Peeta. Neither said a word, but I sensed volumes were communicated in that stare.

"Okay," Gale muttered. "Do it. What your brother said."

Peeta didn't say anything. He took a long swig from the bottle in his bag, and then stood up.

He walked away from the campfire and toward the dock.

"I didn't think he'd do it," Rye said in amazement, as Peeta stepped out onto the wooden platform and began to walk to the end of it. "He can't swim."

Delly gasped and hit Rye hard in the shoulder.

"Is he drunk?" Johanna asked. She pulled the bag off Peeta's bottle. It was Mountain Dew. She took a swig. "Damn. He's dead sober."

Peeta was almost to the end of the dock when Gale said, "Catnip, I think you better go save him. He's doing this because of you."

What? Peeta took the dare because of me. Did Peeta Mellark love me?

I froze in place as I watched him toe off his shoes, and then step off the end of the pier. The water was probably twelve feet deep there.

Immediately Finnick stumbled to his feet and sprinted toward the lake. He was captain of the high school swim team a couple of years ago. I took off running after Finnick, not knowing what to do but horrified as I watched Peeta try to keep his head up.

"Peeta, lay on your back and float," I yelled, but I doubted he heard me. The loud gasps of air and the flailing of his arms showed he was panicking.

Finnick was already in the lake and swimming toward Peeta. But Peeta went under and didn't come up. Finnick took a breath and went below as well. They were both under for close to a minute, and then Finnick raised his head.

"I can't find him," he yelled. "The water's too murky." He dove down again.

My heart pounded. I rushed into the water but Gale pulled me back.

"Wait on the shore. You're too upset to be any help." I wondered at his words because at least I hadn't been drinking. The others had been. But already Gale, Rory, Johanna, and Thom were in the water. Madge was calling for help on her cell.

"What in the hell is wrong with you?" Delly screamed at Rye who stood on the shore in disbelief. "Why would you tell him to jump off the dock when you know he can't swim."

"I didn't think he'd do it," Rye mumbled. "I thought it was the push he needed to..." His voice trailed off.

Prim latched onto my arm and rubbed circles on my back. "He'll be all right Katniss."

I didn't understand why everyone thought I was upset. Peeta was not my boyfriend. I hardly knew him. But could Gale be right? Could he have jumped off the dock and risked death because he was too self-conscious to answer some dumb Truth or Dare question. Even if it were true, he could have lied.

Time seemed to have stopped. People came to the surface for air and then went back under. I thought about when my father died. When my mother heard the news about the explosion, she screamed so loud that everyone in the neighborhood heard her. She's never truly recovered from it.

As I watched the unsuccessful rescue something bizarre happened. It was as if I was Peeta watching images of my life flash by. Pulling a tray of warm cookies from the oven. Sketching a flower. Pinning an opponent in a wrestling match. Laughing with friends. Then everything went black.

I heard a shriek and felt someone shaking me. Something was poking my back and I realized I was lying on the rocky shoreline. I had fainted. Prim was beside me.

"Finnick has Peeta," she whimpered. I turned my head and saw Finnick and Gale half dragging, half carrying him out of the water. His skin was blue. They set him on the shore's edge and Finnick began CPR.

I sat up to watch. Finnick got Peeta's nose blocked off but his mouth was tilted open and he blew air into his lungs. I actually saw Peeta's chest rising and falling. Then Finnick began to pump the spot over his heart with the heel of his hands.

Agonizing minutes passed as my hopes diminished. Gale offered to take over, but Finnick shook his head, continuing his set rhythm of breathing and pumping. Around the time that I thought it was too late, Peeta gave a small cough and his eyes fluttered open.

Finnick jumped back and immediately pushed Peeta onto his side. Vomit spewed from Peeta's mouth. The discharge continued until all the water from his lungs and the food in his stomach had come out. The stench was disgusting, but Finnick wiped Peeta's face clean with his hand, before laying him back onto the ground.

"I'm so sorry." Rye rushed forward, kneeling at his brother's side, careful to avoid the vomit. Tenderly he pushed Peeta's wet curls out of his eyes. "Why did you do it Peet?"

A tinge of color appeared on Peeta's ashen cheeks. He mumbled something and Rye turned and gave me a swift glance, before he turned back to his brother.

The sound of the aid car's siren grew closer.

"Get rid of the liquor," Gale hollered.

A few of them hurried back to the campfire and tossed all the drinks into a trash bag. The near calamity seemed to have sobered everyone up.

Rye pulled Peeta up into a sitting position. "Just a minute," Peeta said. His voice sounded ragged. "It's my turn to ask a question." He looked directly at me. "Katniss, truth or dare. Would you go out with me sometime?"

It had taken this perplexingly good-natured boy a close brush with death to gather the courage to speak his feelings. I guessed I could summon up boldness as well. In front of everyone, I joined in the stupid game and answered. "Truth."

Peeta grinned and waited for my reply as the medics rushed forward with a gurney.

THE END


End file.
